The present invention relates to a vehicle sun visor apparatus, and more particularly, to a vehicle sun visor apparatus for moving a light shield body forward and rearward by driving a drive motor based on an incident light detection signal from a light receiving sensor.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-136807 describes an example of a vehicle sun visor apparatus including a light receiving sensor, which is located on the surface of a rearview mirror arranged on the front glass. A light receiving sensor includes a plurality of light receiving elements, each receiving light such as sunlight. Based on the light received by the light receiving elements, the light receiving sensor outputs an incident light detection signal. The sun visor apparatus automatically moves a sun visor forward or rearward in accordance with the detection signal.
The rearview mirror is normally arranged on the central upper portion of the front glass. Thus, the rearview mirror interferes with the driver's view at the central upper portion of the front glass. For this reason, even though the wiper does not wipe the central upper portion of the front glass where the rearview mirror is located, the driver's view would not be significantly affected.
However, the light receiving sensor described in the above publication may be located in the vehicle compartment at a position that does not correspond to the wiping area of the wiper. In such a case, if the front glass is stained by, for example, mud or bird feces at a portion that is not wiped by the wiper, the light receiving sensor may not be able to accurately receive light. As a result, the sun visor may not properly be moved forward or rearward.